Stan Collymore has warned FIFA and football’s continental bodies that they have to get a grip on the 'degradation of fan behaviour' before something major happens.
More unsavoury incidents occurred at the Old Firm derby on Sunday, when glass bottles were thrown on to the Ibrox pitch from sections of the home crowd. That followed the disgusting scenes witnessed in Mexico last month when the clash between Queretaro and Atlas had to be abandoned as rioting fans fought each other in the stands and on the pitch.
There has also been more than one episode in England this season, with coins thrown at Everton during the game against Liverpool, and a Leicester fan assaulting three Nottingham Forest players. And Mirror Sport columnist Collymore, the former Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa star, wants the game’s governing bodies to tackle the issue before it’s too late.
He told Mirror Football : “At Ibrox on Sunday, from three different parts of the ground there were bottles thrown. I’m not going to sledge Rangers because I have a soft spot for Celtic, but this all falls into what I’ve been seeing since people went back to football matches following Covid. We saw it at Everton a few weeks ago, with coins being thrown, we’ve seen a Leicester fan handed a four-month youth custody term for assaulting Forest players at the City Ground, we had broken glass in Joe Hart’s penalty box and a bottle thrown at a member of Celtic’s management staff at the weekend.
“So whether it be in Mexico, in Europe or on these shores, and whether it’s higher arrest stats of football fans outside of grounds, hooliganism, racism or other crowd issues, we have to keep highlighting these issues. My theory all along was, when people get back into stadiums, we’re going to have groups of ordinarily sensible people wanting to drink more and do more — they’re back with their tribe again and so they behave more extremely.
“So before the World Cup, FIFA, UEFA and the other continental bodies have to get round a table and get talking about supporter behaviour inside and outside of stadiums. There is a pattern emerging and, coming out of the pandemic, I’ve seen nothing other than a degradation in behaviour generally from supporters in terms of incidents on or around football pitches.
“So I’m going to keep mentioning this until we have this one big incident and people say, ‘Why weren’t we warned?' I’m going to point them in the direction of the things that have been happening over the last five or six months because they are not acceptable.
“Forget the fact Sunday was a battle of the Old Firm and that there’s an historical rivalry, because glass in the goalmouth and a staff member being hit on the head by a bottle is a consequence of football authorities coming out of Covid and not setting the rules back straight to football supporters and people involved in the game. We have to do better.”
